The MTR's Admiralty station has always been packed during evening peak hours, but passengers say it is more so now.
'In the past, you could almost always get into the train at the two ends of the platform, but now you must wait there for at least one more train, and sometimes even two trains,' said Peter Chong, who takes the MTR to Mong Kok most days from his Central office.
Mr Chong said he has been using the MTR more since it reduced fares in December, when it merged with the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation.
Causeway Bay office worker Fiona Chan shared his feelings. 'The Tsuen Wan-bound platform of the Admiralty station is so stuffy during the peak hour that sometimes I feel like I will faint.' She said she had seen people's fingers get caught in the closing doors while struggling to squeeze in.
An MTR spokesman said the control room despatched extra trains when necessary to disperse queues, although train frequency during evening peak hours was close to the maximum of one every 2.1 minutes.
As passengers jam the railways, average daily patronage of the three bus companies - Kowloon Motor Bus, New World First Bus and Citybus - all edged downwards by between 0.8 and 3.2 per cent in December compared with one year earlier, Transport Department figures show.